War…War Finally Changed

Written by: Adam "ManKorn" Korenman, CC2K Video Games Editor

3) I’m Still Sinking Hours Like It’s My Job

Despite the flaws, the uneven combat system, the ill-explained settlement dynamic, the inconsistent V.A.T.S., and even the often-times miserable voice acting, I have spent almost a hundred hours in the radiated wasteland of the Commonwealth since the game launched. Why is that?

Simple. The game is just fun. 

It’s not the prettiest to look at, but it’s immersive. The first time I wandered through a radiation storm, and I watched the rays of sunlight struggle to pierce the thick veil of nuclear fallout, I was mesmerized. Dying slowly from radiation poisoning, for sure, but mesmerized.

When my dog lunged at a raider and pinned him to the ground, all so I could take a vital shot to end the fight, I was entranced. 

And when, after traveling with the ice queen piper for ages, she finally opened up about her life before it all, I was blown away. 

There is an attention to detail that few developers are able to match. Littered throughout the wasteland are stories told not with words, but in vignettes. You see a series of bodies leading up to a cabin (ghouls). Inside, the remains of a family that didn’t quite make it out. There’s no quest here, no need to know what happened, but the evidence is all there. You are keenly aware of the horrors faced in these people’s final moments.

That is what makes Fallout 4 worth playing. That is what makes it worth pushing past all the negativity. And that is why it is a key contender for CC2KOnline’s Game of the Year.

It’s not because it is perfect. It is because Fallout 4, like the best games of all time, is simply fun to play.